Activities

• Essence of Technology

  Heidegger delves into the essence of technology, emphasizing that it is not merely a collection of tools or machines but a way of revealing and challenging forth
• Enframing


  The extreme danger of technology, representing the way in which technology frames our understanding of the world and limits our perception of reality
• Freedom and Revealing


  The relationship between freedom and revealing in the context of technology, where true freedom lies in concealing and revealing in a way that opens up new possibilities for understanding
• Unconcealment

  Heidegger's exploration of how modern technology reveals the world in a challenging and transformative manner, emphasizing the interconnected paths of revealing and the importance of regulating and securing this process
• Technology as a Complex

  Heidegger's view of technology as a complex system of contrivances that shape our understanding of the world, not just a collection of tools but a way of revealing and bringing forth truth
• Epistemology and Techne


  The relationship between epistemology (knowledge) and techne (craftsmanship) in terms of how they reveal and shape our understanding of the world
• Art and Revealing

  Heidegger's suggestion that the essence of technology pervades every art and revealing of coming to presence into the beautiful, emphasizing the interconnectedness of art, technology, and revealing in shaping our perception of reality
• Jason Hickel challenges the notion that continuous economic growth is the solution to poverty eradication
• Despite significant global economic growth, the number of people living in poverty has increased, indicating the limitations of the current approach
• Overconsumption in Rich Countries


  Rich countries are identified as the primary contributors to overconsumption, leading to ecological overshoot and planetary boundaries being exceeded
• Alternative Visions of Development


  The concept of buen vivir, or good living, is presented as an alternative vision of development, drawing inspiration from Latin American perspectives
• Rethinking Progress and Development


  The need to rethink the traditional notions of progress and development is emphasized, with a focus on achieving a higher level of understanding and consciousness
• Call for 'Catching Down' in Rich Countries


  Instead of pushing poorer countries to emulate the consumption levels of rich nations, the author advocates for rich countries to reduce their consumption levels to more sustainable levels
• Language and Framing

  Criticism is directed towards negative terms like 'de-growth' and 'de-development,' which may hinder broader acceptance of alternative development approaches
• THAT SUGAR FILM is one man's journey to discover the bitter truth about sugar
• Damon Gameau embarks on a unique experiment to document the effects of a high sugar diet on a healthy body, consuming only foods that are commonly perceived as 'healthy'
• Through this entertaining and informative journey, Damon highlights some of the issues that plague the sugar industry, and where sugar lurks on supermarket shelves
• THAT SUGAR FILM will forever change the way you think about 'healthy' food
• Within 3 weeks I had developed fatty liver disease and by the end I had early type 2 diabetes, heart disease risks and 11cm of extra girth around my mid-drift
• The town of Amata has just 350 people and those people drink 40,000 liters of soft drink per year between them
• Michael Moss in New York, author of 'Sugar Salt Fat. How The Food Giants Got Us Hooked' and learn of the amount of money and time spent by the processed food industry to get consumers hooked on sugar
• We meet ex food scientists from these companies and are even taken through the process of finding sugar's 'bliss point' where the goal is to create a flavor that "isn't too sweet, but enough to keep a customer coming back for more"
• I head to Barbourville, Kentucky and spend a few days with a dentist who drives around in a mobile dental clinic and treats the local impoverished kids for free who have a condition he has coined Mountain Dew Mouth'
• Kids as young as 2 are drinking 5 to 6 cans of Pepsi's Mountain Dew a day
• In a 1.25 liter bottle there are 37 teaspoons of sugar and 50% more caffeine than Coke
• We watch as a 17 year old boy has 26 of his teeth removed
• Kathleen Des Maison: 'Sugar isn't evil, but life is just so much sweeter without it'
• The Rules

  • I must consume 40 teaspoons of sugar a day for 60 days
  • These must be 'hidden' sugars found in 'healthy' foods and drinks, such as breakfast cereals, muesli bars and juices
  • So no soft drinks, ice-cream, confectionary or chocolate
  • The sugar must consist of sucrose and fructose specifically, whether they are 'added' or naturally occurring. Despite carbohydrates like bread breaking down to a type of sugar in the body, they will not be counted
  • I must always choose low-fat foods
  • I must maintain my exercise routine: three laps of my long, steep garden twice a week and ten minutes in my homemade gym (this consists of dumbbells made of two 20-litre water bottles and a tent pole. In your face, Fitness First!)
• Damon's Go-To Emergency Foods

  • A spoonful of coconut oil
  • A handful of pecans, macadamias, walnuts or almonds
  • A scoop of avocado
  • A sip of apple cider vinegar (foul, but does the job)
  • A warm sweet potato
  • A piece of cheese
  • A glass of L-Glutamine powder (this helps the neuro transmitters in the brain to alleviate cravings.)
• C.S. Lewis' Critique of Scientism

  Lewis was a critic of "scientism" - the ideology that the methods of natural science should be the standard by which all other intellectual disciplines are judged
• Similarities between Science and Magic (according to Lewis)

  • Their ability to function as a kind of alternative religion or worldview
  • Their encouragement of lack of skepticism/gullibility in the name of authority
  • Their quest for power over nature and the ability to control
• Lewis criticized evolutionary theory and Freudian psychoanalysis as examples of scientistic overreach that contained self-contradictions
• Lewis' Concerns about Scientocracy

  • He warned about the dangers of a world where "nothing is sacred" and human dignity is violated in the pursuit of scientific utopia and control
  • He argued that while scientific training provides technical expertise, it does not automatically confer wisdom on ethical/philosophical questions of how we should act as a society
• Lewis' Vision for Regenerate Science


  • He advocated for upholding transcendent ethical values and human rights as limits on the application of science, to prevent its misuse for evil ends
  • He hoped scientists themselves would work to create a "regenerate science" respecting human dignity, instead of degenerating into the totalitarian "magician's twin"
• Lewis compared scientism to Soviet Marxism, which claimed to be "scientific socialism" even though its ideas were not truly scientific
• Lewis saw scientism leading to dangerous ideologies like social Darwinism and Nazi racial science that abused scientific language and prestige
• Lewis satirized and parodied Freudian psychoanalysis in his writings as an example of scientistic overreach
• Lewis warned that the desire for power and control inherent in the scientific worldview, unchecked by ethics, could lead to a bleak, dystopian future
• Towards the end of his life, Lewis grew increasingly alarmed by the dogmatic use of science to claim authority over societal values and public policy
• Lewis advocated that scientific claims should be open to scrutiny by rational thinkers, not just accepted by fiat from a scientific "priesthood"